Settimana delle Bocche - Azzurra surfs at 20+ knots

At the Audi Settimana delle Bocche, the great spectacle of sailing is taking place. It was an unforgettable race, with Azzurra surfing at over 20 knots, powered by the Mistral in Costa Smeralda, head to head with Quantum.

Today the nine-strong TP52 fleet sailed a coastal race of over 30 miles that took them around the Spargi islands and back in front of Porto Cervo. Sunny weather, short and steep waves and a Mistral gusting at over 25 knots: that was the setting for a fantastic race in which the absolute protagonists were Azzurra and Quantum, closely fighting a real match race throughout the entire day, alternating in the lead countless of times.

The day’s most spectacular moment undoubtedly came when Azzurra rolled Quantum, flying at 22 knots, a few meters from the Spargi rocks. The decisive moment was instead at the Bisce Strait, where Quantum was able to overtake Azzurra after a gybing duel and then retain the lead until the finish line. Azzurra is still leading the overall scoretable, one point clear of Quantum Racing.

Alberto Roemmers, owner/helmsman: 'It was the very first time that two Roemmers were onboard Azzurra! I’m very happy I shared the race with Pablo. I helmed during the beat, in the last stretch I gave Guillermo the helm, sat with Pablo and we enjoyed the race and the show from that moment.'

'It was an incredible day, an incredible race. It was basically a fight between the three leading boats, ourselves, Quantum and Interlodge. The lead was changing back and forth, we would overtake them and then they would overtake us. There were distinct conditions that altered our positions. We had a lot of bad luck with a ferry that crossed in front of us, forcing us to fall back and give away our advantage. It is true it was a race that didn’t let us take a break not even for a minute. We were never relaxed; we continuously overtook or were overtaken, sailing very close to the other boats. We committed a few errors and the last stretch of the race was difficult but I would say that the crew was impeccable and all maneuvers were fantastic. I’d like to congratulate everybody because they truly shone today.'

Francesco Bruni, strategist: 'The whole day has been a match race, immensely adrenaline-pumping downwind, where we fought with Quantum to get inside them and gybe on their sails, rolling them. Inversely, when they rolled us we would prepare the following gybe. It was a difficult downwind but fun, if it weren’t for the point we gave Quantum. We paid the price of a few small errors we committed, but that’s part of the game, we are still the overall leaders.'

On the fun onboard the TP52’s today, compared to the America’s Cup AC72’s: 'From a tactical point of view, today’s race and in general the TP52’s are the top but I can assure you that flying over the water at more than 40 knots is an unsurpassed experience!'